UPDATE: Middletown man in critical condition after water rescue on Delaware

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By Mike Randall

recordonline.com

By Mike Randall

Posted Jul. 9, 2013 at 11:21 AM
Updated Jul 9, 2013 at 5:34 PM

By Mike Randall

Posted Jul. 9, 2013 at 11:21 AM
Updated Jul 9, 2013 at 5:34 PM

» Social News

PORT JERVIS — A Middletown man was clinging to life Tuesday hours after rescuers plucked him from the Delaware River.

City police said the 29-year-old man was swimming with friends Tuesday morning at a spot known as Goose Rock, a popular swimming hole near Laurel Grove Cemetery. None of the swimmers were wearing life jackets, according to police,

Firefighters and ambulance crews responded to the scene of what was originally reported as a possible drowning shortly after 11:30 a.m.

Members of the Sparrowbush Engine Co. pulled the man from the water and the Port Jervis Ambulance Corps then rushed him to Bon Secours Hospital, where he was revived and listed in critical condition. Late Tuesday afternoon, police reported the man was being transferred to Orange Regional Medical Center.

The man’s name was being withheld until police could notify his next of kin.

The near-drowning came just a day after a 9-year-old Bushkill boy drowned on the river in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pike County, Pa.

On May 5, the body of 56-year-old James Estes of Pennsylvania was found floating in the Delaware near Tusten. An autopsy performed at the time failed to determine a cause of death, but police said foul play was not suspected.

Tuesday’s rescue also came one day after the National Park Service, which oversees the part of the river known as the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, issued a reminder to those who use the river to respect its power and the potential dangers it poses, including strong currents.

The NPS said June’s heavy rains have kept the Delaware at unusually high levels.

While wearing life jackets is mandatory whenever the river is above 6 feet at the Barryville gauge, park rangers strongly encourage all those who venture onto the river to wear a jacket at all times. Jackets are mandatory for children 12 and younger at all times.

Jackets also are mandatory for all boaters from Nov. 1 to April 1 regardless of water levels.

According to the NPS, the river claims an average of two drowning victims a year, but no one wearing a properly fitted life jacket has ever drowned in the Delaware.